Couldn't Find Her

Over the next few days, Alicia thoroughly cleaned the castle from top to bottom. She enjoyed it, telling herself she was searching for clues.

Arthur joined in as well. He was very sensible, which saved Alicia a great deal of effort.

A ten-year-old adapted well to magic. He quickly accepted the castle's many wonders and even spent days happily playing with that door.

She wiped the windows, cleaned the leaking sink, and even scrubbed the stairs. Then there was the bathroom. Honestly, she had never seen such a filthy bathroom before. The weeds in the shower terrified her, and the color of the bathtub gave her quite a fright.

She had no idea whether it was paint or some kind of potion that had dyed the tub so many colors. The mirror was covered in blotches and crisscrossing stains. Rather than a bathroom, it looked more like a workspace for some sort of evil human experiment.

Cleaning that place alone took her an entire day.

Some bottles and jars on the shelves caught her attention. Labels like "skin," "eyes," and "hair" were written on them—words that were hard to ignore.

At first, Alicia guessed they might have been made from young girls' bodies. But upon closer inspection, she found that most of them were cosmetics such as face cream.

Thinking back on her impression of Shaya over the past few days, she honestly found it difficult to connect him with such a wide variety of cosmetics.

Or rather, whenever she imagined him smearing all that stuff over his face, goosebumps rose all over her body.

She put everything back where it belonged, then cleaned the area thoroughly.

Over the past few days, she had also made quite a few friends in Eagle's Horn Port.

Alicia had never heard of this place while she was in the palace. It was probably some obscure little town deep in the countryside.

But the people here were truly warmhearted.

Energetic ninety-year-old grandmothers like her were rare in this era.

Out of the fine tradition of respecting the elderly and caring for the young, some enthusiastic neighbors often brought her little gifts. When she went out to buy groceries, people would give her extra vegetables and discounts.

Alicia always accepted with a smile, though sometimes she returned the favor with little dishes she made herself—food that even Shaya had praised more than once.

She especially liked some of the local gifts, such as strings of seashells. She used them to decorate her little nook beneath the stairs.

The room grew cleaner and cleaner. The cakes and jam in the food cabinet were neatly arranged, and seasonal vegetables appeared from time to time.

This magical castle was beginning to feel more and more like a home.

If I really leave this place one day, I'll probably cry, Alicia thought.

Back at the palace, she had not had a single friend she could truly talk to. The maids answered her every request, but none of them had ever treated her as a friend. There had only been respect.

After she went blind, there was barely anything she could do for fun. She simply stayed in the palace, living numbingly through one day after another.

The palace was vast and luxurious, but its silent emptiness made her uneasy.

This place was small, yet she slept especially peacefully every night. She had not felt like this in a long time.

But she knew she could not stay here forever.

Alicia had always felt that he knew who she was, yet he continued to turn a blind eye.

What exactly was he thinking? Alicia could not figure it out at all, and the feeling was unbearable.

That was why she left Shaya's room for last. She was afraid—afraid she would find something inside that would shatter her current life.

Such as fragments of a young girl's heart, or the contents of the contract between Cassifa and him.

But she quickly dismissed those worries. She had to break this curse. She had had enough of feeling like an old woman.

She rose early. A light rain was still falling over Eagle's Horn Port. She tied on a headscarf, rolled up her sleeves, wrapped herself in an apron, prepared a broom, a bucket, and soap, then marched toward the stairs as if heading into battle.

Shaya was reading on the balcony. That was all he had done these past few days. He was sitting in the rocking chair Alicia had bought a few days earlier.

It was a new model from a nearby furniture shop, inspired by a child's cradle. It was very comfortable.

It was perfect for an elderly person to sit in and bask in the sun. She had paid a hefty price for it, intending to use it by the great lake where the castle was currently moored.

But she had barely sat in it before Shaya stole it. His butt had practically never left that chair. Every day, he lounged on the balcony, sunbathing and reading.

Whenever she saw how lazy he looked, anger rose within her.

He made Cassifa bear all the powerful magic sustaining the castle, then dumped every daily chore onto her and Arthur.

Meanwhile, he had stolen a ninety-year-old grandmother's old-folks' chair and spent every day doing nothing but sunbathing.

She no longer had the slightest bit of awe for this shameless fellow.

As if sensing someone watching him, Shaya closed his book and looked Alicia over with interest.

"Cleaning my room?"

"What? Afraid I'll find something I'm not supposed to find in there?" Alicia said, hands on her hips.

"Not really," Shaya said. "But when you clean, remember not to move anything inside. Those are magical devices meant to ward off the Wilderness Witch."

Hearing that familiar name, Alicia's breath caught slightly. She had long guessed that the Wilderness Witch and Shaya had known each other in the past, but hearing him say it was a different matter altogether.

"Who is that?" she pressed.

"A nuisance," Shaya said. "She's a big nuisance now, but in the future, she'll probably just be a small one."

"Don't tell me she's some woman you abandoned after seducing her?" Alicia said.

"Why would you think that?" Shaya asked with a strange expression.

"Intuition."

Shaya shook his head. "Would you believe me? I've never even met her."

"Then why is she looking for you?" Alicia asked. "And why are you hiding from her?"

Shaya seemed about to say something, but hurried footsteps coming from the stairs beside them drew their attention.

Arthur came running up in short steps, holding a newspaper. Excitedly, he said, "Alicia, Shaya, look at this newspaper.

"His Majesty Emperor Moria... has passed away!"

Clatter!

The broom fell from Alicia's hand. Clearly, the news Arthur had brought had struck her tremendously, leaving her frozen where she stood.

A moment later, she came back to herself and immediately snatched the newspaper from Arthur's hands, staring wide-eyed at the headline.

As she read, she slowly walked downstairs, leaving the bucket and broom behind.

Once Arthur recovered from his shock, he noticed that Alicia's mood was strange. He hurried down the stairs and saw her sitting by the window with her head lowered, covering her face.

Her body trembled slightly, and soft sobs came from her.

The newspaper had fallen to one side.

Arthur was at a loss. He did not know whether he had done something wrong, so he did not dare go over to comfort her.

Panicking, he ran upstairs.

"Shaya! Alicia is crying! Go check on her!"

Shaya was not surprised. He silently stood up and placed the book in his hand on the rocking chair.

"Why is she crying?" Arthur asked uneasily. "Is it because of me?"

"It isn't because of you," Shaya said.

"Then why?" Arthur pressed.

"Because of parting. She lost an important family member." Shaya looked at him. "Can you understand that?"

Arthur fell silent for a moment. "I can. When Grandma Director died, I cried the whole time too."

After a pause, he asked, "Is there anything we can do?"

"Help her clean the room," Shaya said.

Arthur came to his senses and looked at the bucket and broom on the floor. He nodded. "I understand."

Shaya said nothing more and simply walked downstairs.

Alicia was still sitting beside the worktable, sobbing, her body trembling uncontrollably.

He silently walked to her side, picked up the newspaper from the floor, and looked over its contents with a sigh.

"I thought it would take more than ten days for this news to reach Eagle's Horn Port. I didn't expect it to arrive so quickly."

Hearing that, Alicia looked up at Shaya, tears still on her face. "You already knew?"

Suddenly, Alicia seemed to realize something. She snatched the newspaper from Shaya's hand and looked at the time of death in the obituary. It was exactly when Shaya had gone out with the Grim Reaper.

"Did you take Emperor Moria away?"

"It was death."

Shaya spoke seriously. "As long as someone is human, they can never escape death. That is humanity's fate.

"The Grim Reaper does not bring death. Rather, death brings the Grim Reaper. He is only responsible for guiding souls to where they belong."

Shaya looked at Alicia. "That day, he guided many souls, and this emperor was the last one."

Alicia lowered her head and fell silent. She understood her father's condition, and she understood many of these truths.

But she had never imagined that this moment would come so suddenly, that she would not even have time to see him one last time.

"I spoke with him for a while," Shaya said. "We got along quite well. He gave me a box and asked me to deliver it to his third daughter, who disappeared not long ago."

Alicia raised her head and looked quietly at Shaya, but said nothing.

Shaya sighed. "Unfortunately, I simply can't find where his third daughter is."

"Not even with magic?" Alicia asked.

"Magic isn't omnipotent either," Shaya said.

"Where is the box now?" Alicia asked.

Shaya raised his hand, and an exquisitely crafted box slowly appeared in his palm.

Alicia kept staring at the box.

"You seem to care a great deal about that emperor," Shaya said, looking at her with interest.

Alicia withdrew her gaze, wiped away the tears lingering at the corners of her eyes, and tried to calm herself.

"I... I just think he was a good emperor. It's such a pity that he died like this."

Shaya nodded, as though he believed her.

"Since you value this emperor so much, you can keep this for now, until we find the Third Princess."

He placed the box on the table beside her.

"Give... give it to me?" Alicia did not react at first.

"There's no room in my room," Shaya said casually. "Besides, I'm really not someone who can keep track of things. If I hold onto it, I might not be able to find it one day."

"That, I can't deny."

After all these days of cleaning, Alicia had developed a very clear understanding of Shaya's ability to organize and store things.

"Then it's yours. I'm going to take a bath. Cassifa, prepare hot water for me."

Shaya spoke to Cassifa as he turned and walked up the stairs.

He had not bathed in many days. Now that the bathroom was clean, he intended to have a good soak.

"What a hassle. Why take a bath so early in the morning?" Cassifa complained. "Alicia, add a few logs for me."

Alicia looked at the box, then at the stairs Shaya had gone up. A faint glow flickered in her eyes, but she said nothing.

She silently got up and added a few logs for Cassifa. Then he huffed and puffed as he heated Shaya's bathwater.